Desiree "Jerry" Clifford Michaud and Thelma Irene McGraw Papers

The Desiree "Jerry" Clifford Michaud and Thelma Irene McGraw Papers focuses on the 1942-1952 United States (U.S.) Navy career of Michaud, as well as McGraw's career as a flight attendant with United Airlines from 1942-1952. The collection contains textual materials, black-and-white photographs, and ephemera associated with their respective naval and commercial airlines careers.

Series I, Jerry Michaud Papers, focuses on Michaud and includes black-and-white photographs and textual materials relating to his time as a Naval pilot from 1942-1952, primarily his 1945-1946 service in Japan during and post-World War II, and some materials relating to his personal life. Photographs make up the bulk of the series. Of the 179 military-related photographs, the majority were taken in Japan, although there are also photographs of Michaud's other posts, including Guam, China, and United States Naval training bases and on aircraft carriers. There are several snapshots of the B-29 "Destiny's Tot" (X-triangle-34) and other B-29s from the 313th Bomb Wing, 9th Bomb Group. Few of the images include captions providing contextual information; the archivist therefore grouped the materials by subject as best as possible based on the imagery, but some items may have been mis-identified. The photographs vary in size from 1x1" to 8x10". Some duplication occurs.

There are also five oversized scrapbook pages with 106 black-and-white photographs relating to Michaud's military service. The pages contain captions providing contextual information such as locations, dates, and names of individuals, although many are only identified by first name. Other minor contextual information is also included, such as "Chinese Sword Dance." The pages feature locations in Japan, China, and San Francisco, California.

Textual materials related to Michaud's military career include Christmas cards, certificates, and menus from his time in Japan. His World War II service record is a commemorative album with additional photographs and ephemera pasted and laid in. Personal materials consist of 37 snapshots depicting vacations, family, and Louisiana State University football games.

Series II, Thelma McGraw Papers, focuses on McGraw and includes 69 black-and-white photographs and textual materials of her time as a United Airlines stewardess, personal papers, and a small number of clippings. Career-related photographs include formal shots of stewardesses posing with UAL branding, stewardess training exercises, and images from Hawaii. Textual documents include letters praising McGraw's work as a stewardess, photocopied clippings about her work, and clippings relevant to commercial aviation at the time. The sources of most clippings are unidentified, but one, "Gala Aloha for Inaugural UAL Flight Here from Los Angeles," is from the October 10, 1950 issue of the Honolulu Advertiser. There is also additional promotional material for the first UAL flights to Hawaii. Personal materials in the collection include snapshots of family and a life insurance policy.

Digitized Materials: Materials related specifically to Michaud's military service and McGraw's United Airlines career have been digitized from this collection.

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